blown bulbs

Apparently the arts and crafts community at the online venue "Etsy" are in quite the uproar. On the verge of a hand made strike, so to speak. Therefore, I feel compelled to join my other artist friends by following suit and signing up for craftisart.com and artfire.com. It seems as if etsy needs some competition!
Visit The Enchanted Owl here, at Craftisart.com and at Artfire.com!

The Big Easy

The Enchanted Owl found its way into the heart of another fellow blogger today! Sarah at Magnolia Surprise is featuring all things Mardi Gras in honor of Fat Tuesday, which is right around the corner. She included my recycled light bulb Mardi Gras ornament in her fabulous collection! Check out her blog here and visit her on etsy as well!

More special features...

The Enchanted Owl is proud to be the newest feature on the Official Jewelry by Tara Blog today!
Tara specializes in unique hand crafted jewelry and a love for all things Alice (in Wonderland that is!). Visit her etsy shop here to see her fine collection of altered art, banners, and more.

Thanks so much for featuring my shop Tara, I appreciate all the exposure I can get!

The Sweetest Gift

It's that time again guys & gals--I'm hosting another fabulous giveaway from my etsy shop The Enchanted Owl. This time we're joining in the Valentine's spirit by gifting one of our creative ornaments to one lucky winner!
Enter your name for a chance to win one FREE ornament (of your own choice) by emailing me, leaving a blog comment,or stopping by our facebook fan page!
Winner will be chosen on Feb. 7 just in time to receive their ornament by Valentines 2010. Good luck to everyone! XOXO

Retail Therapy

Last weekend we opted for a little retail therapy west of the Mississippi. We took off Friday morning for a weekend in Oklahoma City to catch a little IPRA rodeo action and a well deserved shopping spree.
I won't rehash my disdain for ILL-inois, but to add to the endless amount of nothingness in this state, there is no decent shopping within 500 miles of our nearest cornfield.
Thank goodness for Whataburger, Candlewood, and Langstons.
We spent some time visiting some shop owners down in Stockyards city--stop by Suzanne Hill's "Stemwinder Hats" and get the full story on making George Bush & Charlie Daniels personal cowboy hats. We skipped Cattlemen's this year due to new owners and an entire city complaining of diarrhea, and instead discovered the local dive known as the Chuckhouse over on 10th.
Saturday night we headed for the fairgrounds to catch some rodeo action, and were happy to cheer on some fellow Carolinians; Joe Cook in steer wrestling, the Treadway stock, and Alan Moorehead announcing (which I can personally thank for a heinous migraine)! Combining my zoom lens and our excellent chute gate seats, I spotted this familiar face near the holding pens.

Hooray for Herbert hay! Those bucking bulls and horses are proudly fed by Herb hay--thanks Ken.

Having our fill of snobby horse / rodeo / country music / John Deere / camouflage /and Nascar enthusiasts, we packed the truck for the ride back to ILLinois. This time we avoided the toll turnpike and drove along the old Oklahoma route 66.
The sun never came out, and counting today I haven't seen the sun in almost three weeks. I realize that thanks to Twilight the vampire look may be "in", but it's getting a little ridiculous.
That's it in the vacation department for us, at least for a while.

Sweet Idea

I finished up the first Valentine addition to the etsy shop this week. Here's a preview, click on the photo to visit the shop.
My debate for this uber cute ornament is A. there's no fear of calories or fat so put that Godiva box away, and B. this ornament doesn't require water everyday and a trash can at the end of the week, so put down the phone before you call that florist.
These can be completely customized & personalized per request. Hope everyone celebrates a very sweet and very recycled Valentines day!

Tweeting...well, in our case, hooting.

The Enchanted Owl is officially on Twitter as of today. According to Etsy research, the bigger your audience, the better your sales. Feel free to check out the most up to date "tweets" (I'd really rather call them hoots as it seems more fitting.)

I've also added some new creations, and I'm in the process of finishing my first Valentine themed ornament. I've had a lot of fun painting the traditional Mardi Gras mask on this Fat Tuesday ornament (which is Feb. 16, 2010 by the way!)


Many thanks to all my friends and blog buddies who have helped spread the word about the Enchanted Owl. I appreciate each and every one of you!

Cold Snap

I'm taking a day off from my light bulb crafts. I've had a serious case of the giggles since my first sale on etsy. It's a fun feeling when someone, besides yourself, enjoys your art just as much as you do. I'm thrilled that my art will be hanging on Christmas trees across the nation this year!

Enough of my gloating. I never get to do that. This is a feeling that will most likely fade away like Heith's bedtime gas, but it was fun while it lasted!

I'm excited I'm able to purchase gifts for people now with my own funds...something I haven't been able to do since I left my career almost four years ago. I guess it's not hard to tell, it doesn't take much to get me excited. Don't hate.

So, in the spirit of newfound success, I finally splurged and bought my very first Burberry scarf!
Tally-ho!

Happy Dezember!

This is the winning lightbulb ornament design..."Peace, Love, and Bugs"! This design was inspired by Kay Larch, who is the winner of the November giveaway. I had such a fun time painting this ornament and it's certainly one of my favorites! Kay is my favorite local artist and I hope to score some of her killer work for the holidays myself. Check out her blog to see some of her wicked painted mosaics!

No worries readers, since I had such a great response with the contest, I've decided to host another giveaway for December. Starting today, if anyone is interested in winning a free ornament, just email me your name & your ideas. Winners will be announced December 15 (in order to receive their ornament by the holidays!) Good luck everyone!

Boots to be

While I'm on the subject of boots, I guess I should post another favorites list. Most of these boots are well out of my budget, but it's still fun to dream. I can't get rid of one pair and not have replacement in the wings, and I can't really count the old ostrich skins that I've had since high school, they're almost antiques now. Check out these wicked kicks!

Old Gringo

Lucchese

What really gets me salivating over these beauties is the fact that each are handmade in the USA. Maybe that will serve as my selling point to the old man?

My Goodies

Okay, I cleaned out the closet and this is what I found. A pair of brand new, red hot cowboy boots. They are (as Chris says) KILLER GOOD, and I of course, hate to part with them. They're too big now (which I can't really understand why). So ladies, if you're looking for smokin' pair of 8 1/2 B western boots, get em while the gettin's good. And like everything else, I only wore them a couple of times. No scuffs, no stains, no scratches--pristine condition. I'm listing them on ebay this evening in hopes to fill someone's cowpoke holiday wish list.

Pretend Like

I decided to do some cyber shopping and create a holiday wish list. It's not very long (I tried to control myself) but they are some of my favorite things...things I've had my eye on for a month or so. It's no secret that I'm a complete Anthropologie addict--I've almost successfully completed my three year task of creating an entire Anthropologie wardrobe. So, it's obvious that the majority of my wish list is on file in their collection. Being extremely short waisted, I have to pick and choose carefully when it comes to dresses and tailored tops. Empire, empire empire!

I fell in love with these Frye boots last month from Victoria's Secret.

This bag is one of my favorites on the list (from Anthropologie). I can't pass up these spunky pair of heels from Anthropologie. I love anything and everything old fashioned / vintage inspired!

Another Anthropologie pick...if I could have one thing off the list, it would have to be this cardigan!

Okay, I should have created a "Need" & "Want"...this tops my need list.

Just in case...

*****EDIT: I just noticed the bad link for FRYE listed above, feel free to visit now that it's fixed!******